Law Enforcement & Judiciary Committee


DATE: February 7, 2003

The regular meeting of the Sauk County Law Enforcement Committee was held on Friday, February 7, 2003, at 8:00 A.M., in Room D127, Law Enforcement Center, 1300 Lange Court, Baraboo, Wisconsin.

The meeting was properly posted and all interested parties were notified.

Members Present: Montgomery, Giebel, Carlson, Wenzel, Williams

Members Absent: Others Present: R. Stammen; B. Hinze; J. Prantner; M. Hafemann; M. Bolz;
R. Meister; Judy Johnson, Sauk Co. Humane Society; J Spencer; F. Coller; B. Manning; Media; Public

  1. Call To Order and Certification of Open Meeting Law: The meeting was called to order and compliance with the Open Meeting Law was certified by Chair Charles Montgomery at 8:00 A.M.
  2. Agenda: Motion by Giebel, seconded by Williams, to adopt the second amended agenda. Motion carried.
  3. Approve Minutes of Previous Meeting(s): Motion by Carlson, seconded by Giebel, to approve the minutes of the regular Law Enforcement Committee meeting held on January 3, 2003, and the minutes of the special meeting held on January 21, 2003. Motion carried.
  4. Communications: Sheriff Stammen had a copy of an article written for a national architectural publication by DLR which he offered to provide to the committee if they were interested in reading it.

    The committee was informed that the 2003 tribal law enforcement grant monies have been received and the amount for this year is $26,680.

    A letter has been received from the Department of Transportation regarding replacement of the Baraboo River Bridge on I90/94. In cases where any kind of incident resulted in closing lanes on the interstate, the traffic would be routed to the "brown route" which would bring it through the City of Baraboo. The replacement of the bridge is expected to take two years overall and construction will begin in March, 2003.

  5. Appearances: The December Officer of the Month award was presented to Sergeant Jeffrey Spencer by Chair Montgomery.

    Theresa Holloway was given the Officer of the Year award for 2003. Theresa was given the Officer of the Month award in January, 2002, for doing CPR on a non breathing infant at a store in Baraboo, and was voted to receive the Officer of the Year award by members of the Sheriff's Department. Chair Montgomery presented her with a plaque honoring her for being selected Officer of the Year.

    Deputy Perry Schleichert was present to be awarded the Officer of the Month award for November, 2002.

  6. Review and Approval of December, 2002, and January, 2003, Bills for Coroner and Sheriff's Department: Motion by Williams, seconded by Giebel, to approve payment of the Coroner's December, 2002, bills in the amount of $122.61 and 2003 bills in the amount of $1,545.99. Motion carried.

    There were a number of 2002 bills processed in January, along with the 2003 expenditures for the Sheriff's Department.

    Motion by Giebel, seconded by Williams, to approve payment of the Sheriff's Department's bills in the amount of $46,923.70 for December, 2002, and $73,268.71 for January, 2003. Motion carried.

    The 2002 revenue report showed revenues in the amount of $135,200 over anticipated amounts for the Sheriff's Department. The committee was informed this amount did not include an additional $6,500 from civil process fees, as well as drug grant payments of approximately $15,000 which weren't included in the report. Those funds will be recorded on the final 2002 report and will bring the revenues to approximately $156,000 over anticipated amounts for the year.

  7. Discussion on Jail Staffing Issues: At the request of the Law Enforcement Committee, Captain Hafemann presented the committee with options to move up the fully operational date of the new facility. Concerns about the building being completed and standing empty due to lack of staff have spurred requests for alternative hiring/staffing plans.

    None of the options presented allowed the opening of the facility by early June. Key hirings would have had to have taken place by January 15, 2003. The committee was informed that moving the hire dates for the jail nurse position and four clerk matrons from November 1, 2003, to July 1, 2003, could possibly allow the jail to be fully operational by September 1, 2003. This would require an additional $71,541.60 in staffing costs. Housing female inmates from other counties could be one way to offset the additional staffing costs but both Sheriff Stammen and Captain Hafemann cautioned that no firm commitments had been received from other counties guaranteeing the female inmates needed to fund the costs. There will no doubt be female inmates to be housed but there may not be sufficient numbers to cover the full costs of the additional salary costs.

    Giebel stated that the first consideration would be to get the staff in place so the institution could be opened and stated he didn't want the committee to be blamed because the building was completed and ready to be occupied but was standing empty. In additional to the empty facility there would be continuing costs for prisoners housed out of county.

    Committee person Wenzel joined the meeting.

    The committee was brought up to date on the hiring situation for the 45 people needed to complete the ultimate staffing needs of the new facility. During the recent recruitment for jailor, there were 164 applications received. Of that number, 115 wrote the test and 50 passed the test. The list contains 15 females and 35 males. Recent experience has been that approximately 33% of those passing the test will be eliminated due to the background screening procedure. Newly promoted Security Sergeant Mim Olsen is working exclusively on the background investigations and is concentrating on the females due to the large number of open female slots in the Security Division. The committee was in accord that another recruitment for jailor should be initiated immediately.

    Committee Chair Charles Montgomery said the Health Care Center has 130 employees and has two full time personnel staff members. He said the Sheriff's Office which will ultimately have 150 employees should have at least one person working on Personnel issues. The options are to add a personnel position to the Sheriff's Office outside of the budget process or include that position in the budget planning for next year.

    The committee agreed that both issues, moving forward the hiring dates of the jail and occupational health nurse and four clerk matron positions, and the issue of a dedicated personnel position for the Sheriff's Office should be discussed with the Executive and Legislative Committee at their February meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday, February 11, 2003. Kathy Schauf was at the meeting and said she would include those items on the agenda for the E&L Committee.

  8. Authorization to Solicit Bids for Jail Transport Vehicle: Captain Hafemann and Sergeant Coller told the committee that they are looking for a cargo van to move prisoners from the Law Enforcement Center to the Courthouse proper when such transfer are necessary for court hearings. The van would not have seats but benches so the inmates can be secured within the van and also to maximize the number of inmates who could be transported at one time. The vehicle could also be used to pick up prisoners from other locations by the transport team if necessary.

    Motion by Giebel, seconded by Wenzel, to authorize Captain Hafemann to solicit bids for a cargo van to meet the specifications deemed necessary by the Sheriff and Captain Hafemann. Motion carried.

  9. Consideration and Possible Resolution for Purchase of New Generator for Happy Hill Tower Site: The emergency backup generator at the Happy Hill Tower site was installed in 1971 and has been in continuous service since that time. It failed the last two tests and needs to be replaced. Once the generator did kick in during testing, the change in electrical power caused the electrical panel to fail as well, shutting down the entire system. The electrical panel needs to be replaced, as well as the generator. The old generator is housed inside a building at the tower site but codes now require such generators to be located outside. Therefore, in addition to the purchase of the generator the expense of replacement includes installation of a concrete pad for it.

    Captain Bolz said he had solicited bids for the generator as well as an upgrade to the electrical panel and a concrete pad on which to place the generator. The bids were from Complete Service of Poynette for replacement of the generator and the upgrade to the electrical system and Gaffney Electric of Wisconsin Dells. Complete Service's bid was $11,140 and the low bid for the generator and the electrical work came from Gaffney Electric for $10,500. The bids for the concert pad came from Cormican Concrete of Baraboo and Caflisch Building and Remodeling of Baraboo. Cormican's bid was for $300 for the pad, but they didn't want to do the grading and gravel base. Caflisch's bid was a total of $750 and they would do the grading and provide the gravel base as well as pouring the concrete pad. Captain Bolz recommended accepting Caflisch's bid for the entire job rather than trying to coordinate the services with another contractor for the grading and gravel. Sheriff Stammen said the non lapsing tower account presently contains $38,814.

    Motion by Giebel, seconded by Carlson, to accept the bid of Gaffney Electric of Wisconsin Dells for the purchase of an emergency generator and the electrical panel upgrade in the amount of $10,500 and to accept the bid of Caflisch Building and Remodeling of Baraboo for construction of a concrete pad for a cost of $750 and to take the resolution to the Sauk County Board of Supervisor at their February meeting. Motion carried.

  10. Discussion on Procedures on Eligibility List Certification and Possible Certification of Patrol and Jail Eligibility Lists: Sheriff Stammen reported the present practice of having the law enforcement committee certify eligibility lists before he is allowed to make a hiring decision is cumbersome and can involved a delay of up to a month on some occasions, depending on when the interviews are completed and when the committee is scheduled to meet. Chief Deputy Prantner also said he had been told by the Personnel Department that certifying lists before background checks are completed could result in a situation where someone could challenge not being hired based on the background investigation results when that person has been "certified" as being eligible for hire.

    Both the Sheriff and the committee agreed that they would continue to offer the lists for committee review and final certification and the committee authorized the Sheriff to hire applicants if all testing procedures had been satisfactorily completed, along with a favorable background investigation, prior to final certification.

    Motion by Montgomery, seconded by Carlson, that the Sheriff be authorized to make offers of employment to applicants ahead of committee certification of eligibility lists where all testing procedures had been satisfactorily completed and the applicant(s) had a favorable background investigation. Motion carried.

    A list of the candidates for female jailor was circulated. Sheriff Stammen said he expected the background investigations to be completed soon and he intended to make offers of employment to three of the applicants as soon as all results were received. Of the 17 applicants on the list, 3 weren't eligible for one reason or another.

  11. Consideration of Attendance at Training Session in Wausau On February 24, 2003, on Issues Facing County Jails, Including Inmate Classification, by Law Enforcement Committee and Others: This training is being offered by Wisconsin Counties Association and is available to sheriffs, county officials and oversight committee persons. The registration deadline is February 14, 2003. Sheriff Stammen and Captain Hafemann will be attending and possibly other county officials. Montgomery and Carlson said they would attend, Williams and Giebel said they wouldn't be able to go. Wenzel will decide later.
  12. Sheriff's Report: Sheriff Stammen reported on the overtime hours paid over the past three year period.

    11,700 hours with compensatory time were incurred in 2002

    12,572 hours with compensatory time were incurred in 2001

    14,000 hours with compensatory time were incurred in 2000

    In January, 2003, there were 780 hours of paid overtime hours and 581 hours of compensatory time accrued.

    Ten hours of supervisory overtime were paid in January, for training and highway safety grant enforcement; 25.5 hours were paid for holiday time worked; 7 hours were paid for ERT callouts, for a total of 42.5 hours.

    The electronic monitoring for December, 2002, reflected that $5,042.89 was collected; $3,715.75 was billed to Sauk County for the equipment, leaving a total of $1,327.14 in revenues.

    Sheriff Stammen informed the committee that the Court Security Division will fall under the command of the Field Service Captain on the chain of command chart.

    Three security sergeants have been selected. Miriam Olsen was selected to fill the first of the three authorized additional Security Sergeant positions and assumed her new duties on January 27, 2003. Kathryn Brandt was selected to fill the second of the three positions and Aaron Kirby was selected third. Both Brandt and Kirby will begin their new duties on July 1, 2003.

    Susan Litscher has been hired as a telecommunicator; Dennis Anstett has left dispatch and gone to the jail and Martin Ederer has been hired as a jailor.

    In 2002 there were expenditures of $104,752 for out-of-county housing of inmates, and in January, 2003, the cost was approximately $18,351.

    There were 173 prisoner transports in January, 2003.

    When asked by the committee, Captain Bolz reported that the mileage on the transport vans were:

    Squad 45, 1998 Dodge Caravan, present mileage $168,925

    Squad 44, 1999 Dodge Caravan, present mileage $186,473

    Squad 46, 2000 Dodge Caravan, present mileage $170,327

    Squad 48, 2001 Ford Windstar, present mileage $115,131.

    Squad 44 was the vehicle which was rebuilt this past year.

    Captain Bolz said possibly it would be advantageous to purchase a cargo van for transporting prisoners such as the one the jail expects to buy.

    Sheriff Stammen reported they are considering renewing the contract with Swanson Commissary for provision of inmate canteen items, as well as the vending machines for the Jail and Huber Center. Under this contract, Swanson will be the vendor for the inmate commissary items and they will handle all the financial transactions. This will mean a workload reduction for the Huber clerk, as well as eliminating making the Huber Clerk the collector of Wisconsin sales tax. Swanson has given a written contract paying Sauk County 24% of the inmate canteen orders.

    Sheriff Stammen told the committee he had asked for suggestions from employees of items to be included in the time capsule to be placed in the cornerstone, which will be placed during the dedication of the uilding. He did have a number of suggestions and a couple of items. He stated he thought it might be good idea to try to combine the dedication of the building with the law enforcement recognition ceremony during the first week of May.

    Captain Bolz told the committee that the squad changeovers, which have been done by Communication Service in the past, will be bid out this year.

  13. Meet With the Humane Society and Kathy Schauf to Discuss Options Available to Operate the Shelter More Effectively: Judy Johnson, the new Shelter Coordinator, introduced herself to the committee. She presented some cost saving measures that the shelter has been using to reduce costs and reported that money donations to the shelter had increased lately, possibly in response to publicity about the budget shortfall it's experiencing. A special committee composed of shelter personnel, law enforcement committee members, Humane Society members and Kathy Schauf will meet and continue to seek ways to continue to cut expenses, maximize efficiency and explore possibilities for additional fund raising.
  14. Adjourn To Date Specified: The next regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 11, 2003, at 8 AM, in the new facility.

Motion by Giebel, seconded by Carlson, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried.